Also known as: Atlantic slave trade, triangle trade, transatlantic trade, commerce triangulaire
Last updated: April 23, 2026
This system, operating from roughly 1500 to 1860 with peak intensity in the eighteenth century, fundamentally shaped the modern capitalist world economy. Saint-Domingue sat at the lucrative apex of this triangle - by the 1780s, the colony was the world's leading producer of sugar and coffee, requiring constant importation of enslaved Africans to replace those who died from brutal labor conditions.
Bordeaux was a major French port city in the Atlantic triangular trade.
La Rochelle was one of France's primary Atlantic ports in the triangular slave trade.
Nantes was France's primary port in the triangular slave trade.
Saint-Domingue was the colonial destination in the French triangular trade.
The triangular trade was the commercial circuit of the Atlantic slave trade.
Triangular Trade
Triangular Trade
Triangular Trade
Triangular Trade
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"Triangular Trade." Rasin.ai, 2026. https://rasin.ai/connections/concepts/triangular-trade. Accessed 2026-05-06.